Prime Minister Doug Ford said he is "confident" in the healthcare system's ability to handle the slight increase in COVID-19 transmission as the province continues to move forward with its plans to lift all remaining restrictions amid what could be the start of another wave of the pandemic.

Infectious disease specialist Dr. Isaac Bogoch said Friday morning that Ontario appears to be "on the brink of a spring wave" with wastewater surveillance data increasingly indicating higher levels of virus spread in the community.

But during a press conference in Ottawa, Ford insisted that his government has no plans to reimpose public health measures at this time.

He also pointed out that the Ontario government remains committed to lifting the remaining public health restrictions by the end of April, including the mask mandate that is still in effect in high-risk settings.

“If increases in the numbers occur, we are ready. We have increased capacity, and we can increase up to 3,000 ICU beds and we have increased 3,100 critical care beds. We have a great health team, great nurses, great doctors, and we have learned an enormous amount over the past two years.”

It is difficult to determine how widespread COVID-19 is in the community, given the reduced access to government-funded PCR testing.

But positivity rates have been rising for several weeks, and some epidemiologists, including Bogoch, have suggested that cases requiring hospital treatment will soon begin to rise again as well.

“We are seeing a slight increase in cases through wastewater surveillance, and as you know, we may see an increase in the number of people being hospitalized due to COVID-19.” “That is likely what we will see.”

Modeling released earlier this month warned that ICU admissions due to COVID-19 could increase by a third to 300 patients by May.
However, this will still be much lower than the peak reached in previous pandemic waves.

Health Minister Christine Elliott said Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Kieran Moore has always warned of the possibility of rising transmission levels as the province reopens.

Therefore, she said the early signs of case increases “are not at all surprising to us” and something the province is preparing for.

She said: “With the immunity rates we have and the other medications, the antiviral drugs we now have, we are protected.” “Moore has repeatedly pointed out that when we reopened Ontario, we would see higher levels in wastewater surveillance but we are confident that we have the capabilities in our hospitals to be able to care for anyone who needs a hospital bed or needs to be in the hospital in intensive care.”

667 people were hospitalized with COVID-19 on Friday, an increase of six from yesterday and 54 compared to one week ago.

The number of people in intensive care decreased by four to 161 on Friday.